fMRI during Transcendental Meditation practice.
Author: Mahone MC1, Travis F2, Gevirtz R1, Hubbard D3
Affiliation:
1California School of Professional Psychology, San Diego, CA 91932, USA.
2Center for Brain, Consciousness and Cognition, Maharishi University of Management, Fairfield, IA, USA. Electronic address: ftravis@mum.edu.
3Applied fMRI, San Diego, CA, USA.
Conference/Journal: Brain Cogn.
Date published: 2018 Mar 2
Other:
Volume ID: 123 , Pages: 30-33 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.02.011. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 153
This study used a within group design to investigate blood flow patterns (fMRI) in 16 long-term practitioners of Transcendental Meditation (mean practice: 34.3 years with each having over 36,000 h of meditation practice). During Transcendental Meditation practice, blood flow patterns were significantly higher in executive and attention areas (anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices) and significantly lower in arousal areas (pons and cerebellum). This pattern supports the understanding that Transcendental Meditation practice requires minimal effort. During Transcendental Meditation, the attentional system was active (heightened blood flow in anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices) in an automatic manner-decreased blood flow in the pons and cerebellum. This pattern of heightened blood flow in attentional areas and decreased blood flow in arousal areas has not been reported during other meditation practices. Future research should investigate blood flow patterns in different meditation practices in the same study.
KEYWORDS: Anterior cingulate; Attention; Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; Meditation; fMRI
PMID: 29505943 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.02.011
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